Immigration

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My honourable friend the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality (Tony McNulty) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The Government are firmly committed to maintaining effective immigration controls while at the same time ensuring that genuine passengers are able to pass through our ports with the least possible inconvenience.
	Nationals of Malawi have generated an increasing number of asylum applications; 45 in 2001, 95 in 2002, 150 in 2003, 170 in 2004 and 110 in the first three quarters of 2005. But asylum is only part of the problem and the level of other immigration abuse by Malawi nationals is also significant, with large numbers being refused entry or presenting forged documents on arrival, overstaying or working in breach. Furthermore, there is a risk that the visa free access to the UK being enjoyed by Malawi nationals may be exploited by other nationals fraudulently obtaining Malawi passports and travelling to the UK. It is of course difficult to quantify this problem as many asylum seekers are without documents when they make their application and it is difficult to identify how they reached the UK. But in view of the serious problem posed by nationals of neighbouring countries, and the immigration threat posed by Malawi nationals themselves, I have decided to impose a visa regime on all Malawi nationals wishing to visit the UK. I have also decided to introduce a transit visa requirement for nationals of Malawi to deal with the increased number of passengers who are arriving in the UK without documents and submitting an asylum application.
	The new arrangements will take effect on 2 March. To avoid undue hardship for those who had already made their travel plans, we have agreed to operate a grace period. This means that those who purchased tickets before 23:59 hours on 1 March and arrive in the UK on a direct journey from Malawi by 23:59 on 8 March, will not be refused entry or permission to transit the UK solely on the basis of not holding a valid visa or transit visa. Furthermore, a transit passenger who is a national or citizen of Malawi and who is transiting the United Kingdom as part of his journey back to his point of origin, will be allowed to do so without a visa until 23:59 hours on 29 March 2006, provided he can demonstrate that he bought his ticket on or before 1 March and transited the United Kingdom on the outward leg of his journey on or before 8 March 2006.
	I would want to provide reassurance that the presence of a visa regime should not be a bar to those Malawi nationals who genuinely wish to visit the UK. The rules under which decisions are made are the same whether that decision is made on arrival or before. This visa regime simply allows officials to consider the application before the passenger embarks for the UK. Providing greater certainty that a person has satisfied the Immigration Rules will also smooth the passage of genuine visitors through the immigration controls, giving advantage to all concerned.
	I recognise that visa regimes represent an inconvenience for some passengers and we will therefore only maintain them where the immigration threat is such as to justify doing so. At present Croatia nationals require a visa in order to visit the UK. However, I judge that there is no longer any significant threat to our immigration controls from Croatia nationals. I have therefore decided that the visa regime should be lifted and standard on-entry immigration controls will apply. Changes to the Immigration Rules will have been made today and the visa regime will be lifted from on 22 March.

Lord Drayson: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Don Touhig) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	To meet the undertakings in its race equality scheme, the Ministry of Defence has produced a third progress report against its race equality scheme 2002–05. The report covers the period August 2004 to July 2005. A copy of the report is being placed in the Library of the House on the Ministry of Defence's website. All the evidence shows that the department continues to have a good record in managing and retaining the ethnic minority personnel. There is no evidence of discrimination in performance appraisal and promotion and the level of race-related complaints continues to be low.

Lord Drayson: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	A new call-out order has been made under Section 56 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 so that reservists may continue to be called out to support UN operations in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The order takes effect from 1 March 2006. There are no plans to call-out reservists compulsorily under this order as it is expected that the small numbers needed will be met through volunteers.

Lord Adonis: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State (Ruth Kelly) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On 19 January 2006, I made an oral Statement to the House about arrangements for vetting those working with children, and for barring those who are unsuitable. In the course of my Statement, I made a number of commitments and I would like to update the House on progress.
	My key commitment was to bring forward the legislation necessary to implement the Government's response to Recommendation 19 of the Bichard inquiry. Honourable Members will wish to be aware that the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill was introduced in the other place on 28 February 2006 and was published in full this morning. The Government are committed to ensuring we fundamentally reform and rebalance vetting procedures so that children's and other vulnerable people's safety is unequivocally the first priority—to achieve this we are introducing a new Vetting and Barring Scheme for individuals working with children and vulnerable adults.
	The objective of the scheme is to minimise the risk of children and vulnerable adults suffering harm at the hands of those employed to work with them by:
	giving employers access to a thorough central vetting service when they are recruiting people who will come into contact with children/vulnerable adults through their work; and
	ensuring that where evidence reveals an individual presents a risk of harm, he/she is barred from working with children/vulnerable adults at the earliest opportunity.
	As I promised in my Statement to the House on 19 January, the Bill will also legislate to remove the responsibility for barring decisions from Ministers entirely, transferring this to a new and independent statutory board which will take all decisions to place someone on the barred list.
	Delivering this key commitment to bring forward legislation was essential. But we recognised more needed to be done and done quickly. This is why we have also acted to deliver other, more immediate operational improvements to the existing system.
	Establishing an Expert Panel
	In advance of legislating to remove Ministers entirely from the decision-making process, I committed to establishing a panel of independent experts, chaired by Sir Roger Singleton, the former head of Barnardo's, to oversee the List 99 process. Sir Roger Singleton has already started work and is considering current cases.
	As promised, I have consulted stakeholders on the composition of the panel as it is crucial that the panel commands confidence and has the right balance of expertise. Alongside the appropriate legal advice, the following disciplines, professional groups and perspectives are to be represented on the panel:
	child protection;
	police;
	education including further education;
	prison and probation;
	parents;
	child and adult psychiatry; and
	children's social care.
	Panel members need to have an understanding of how to identify and respond to abusive behaviour, so that informed decisions are made about whether an individual poses a risk to children. The public need to be satisfied that child protection will be the panel's number one priority. I can announce today that the membership of the expert panel will include:
	Terry Grange, Chief Constable of Dyfed-Powys Police and child protection lead for the Association of Chief Police Officers;
	Arnon Bentovim, child psychiatrist and expert on child sexual abuse;
	Tim Bryan, National Offender Management Service (NOMS);
	David Butler, chief executive, National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations;
	John Caperon, head teacher, Association of School and College Leaders;
	Wes Cuell, Director of Services for Children and Young People, NSPCC;
	Meredydd David, principal of Reaseheath College, Association of Colleges;
	Hannah Miller, Director of Social Services, Croydon and ADSS lead for London Child Protection Committee;
	Paul Fallon, Director of Children's Services, Barnet and co-chair of the ADSS Children and Families Committee;
	Donald Findlater, Lucy Faithfull Foundation;
	Don Grubin, forensic psychiatrist, Newcastle Sexual Behaviour Unit;
	Moira Murray, Children's Society; and
	Eileen Shearer, COPCVA—Catholic Office for Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults.
	Review of individual cases
	On 19 January, I referred to a review of cases where decisions had been taken since the introduction of the Sex Offenders Register in September 1997.
	I referred to 10 cases where a decision was taken by a Minister not to include an individual on List 99, where that individual was on the sex offenders register. Officials and police had examined each case and concluded that none of these individuals was working in a school or pose a current risk to children.
	However the review went further in two ways, looking at:
	cases where officials had taken similar decisions not to include an individual on List 99 who was on the Sex Offenders Register; and
	Decisions taken since 1997 by both Ministers and officials, where the relevant offences were committed prior to the sex offenders register (and hence the individual concerned had not been placed on the register).
	This part of the review identified a further 46 cases. These cases were reviewed before my Statement on the 19 January, including visits to individuals by the police where necessary, and 33 of the 46 individuals were considered not to pose a current risk to children. Checks on the remaining 13 cases were still ongoing on 19 January. Each of these 13 cases has now been considered further.
	Throughout this process we have involved the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). At Sir Roger's request, the police, via Terry Grange Chief Constable of Dyfed-Powys Police, have been involved in undertaking inquiries into whether specific individuals appear to pose a risk of harm to children and the nature of any current contact that they may have with children.
	In 10 of the 13 cases the individuals concerned have been assessed and, where necessary, additional information has been sought from the police. It is considered that all 10 individuals pose no current risk to children and no further action is now being taken.
	In the remaining three cases Sir Roger Singleton has advised me to consider the possible barring of the individuals concerned. I have accepted this advice and am acting on it, working with ACPO, and through them with the relevant local police forces.
	I also referred to 32 cases which had come to light when the police had carried out an initial review of individuals being monitored on the sex offenders register who may also have been eligible for inclusion on List 99. Each individual has been assessed by the police and is subject to the ongoing monitoring that follows from being on the sex offenders register. There is no identified cause for concern.
	However, I have treated each of these cases as a new referral to List 99. Each case is being taken forward accordingly, and the expert panel will be advising me on whether to bar any of these individuals from working with children. I have already barred two individuals in this group where their offences make them subject to automatic inclusion on List 99.
	I remain grateful both to the police and to Sir Roger for their speed and diligence in carrying out these further checks.
	On top of introducing the Bill to ensure fundamental reforms of the vetting and barring system, I announced immediate reforms to the system which will come into place before the Bill is implemented.
	Ofsted Survey
	I announced that, with HMCI's agreement that, in order to inform policy development, Ofsted would investigate staff appointment procedures in schools to find out how robust current processes are. The survey is already under way and will investigate whether schools:
	complete mandatory List 99 checks on all staff;
	carry out CRB checks on new staff in line with existing government guidance;
	carry out appropriate checks on overseas staff; and
	can provide evidence of effective procedures to protect children, especially when CRB checks are in train but not complete.
	The results of the survey will help us identify and share examples of good practice in vetting procedures.
	The survey will also consider whether or not supply agencies have robust procedures in place to vet staff they recommend to schools, including CRB checks.
	The survey will also consider evidence of practice in FE institutions and independent schools. The FE aspect of the survey will be conducted in the course of inspections that are already planned and additional information will be drawn from recently concluded inspections.
	Because of the importance of public confidence in the system, Ofsted will make public the findings of the survey in the spring.
	Consultation on other Policy Changes
	As promised in my Statement I am revising current regulations to require mandatory Criminal Records Bureau checks for all newly appointed school employees. This will also mean that supply agencies ensure that their teaching staff have a CRB check. These new legally binding regulations will replace the existing strong guidance.
	Good progress is being made and I will publish draft regulations shortly. We have already discussed the changes with the CRB and will consult with other key stakeholders on the proposed associated changes to the guidance.
	Current guidance also applies to further education institutions and work is underway to ensure that colleges are covered by equivalent regulations. I also propose to establish, as a matter of principle, that any revised guidance that applies to schools should also apply to further education institutions.
	New regulations to be introduced shortly will ensure that any individuals working with children who are convicted or cautioned for sex offences against children will be automatically entered on List 99 and barred from working in schools and other education settings.
	I am also reviewing current arrangements for overseas teachers, and the options for strengthening the vetting and recruitment checks that are made on overseas staff. I will build on initial discussions with the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and will consult more widely with stakeholders and other government departments to ensure that any changes to guidance or regulations are properly considered in line with other sectors of the children's workforce.
	Making Safeguarding Children Everyone's Business
	This package of measures, both in the short and long term, will significantly strengthen our vetting and barring procedures. Continual updating of our processes both locally and nationally is needed to ensure children can be as safe as possible. The task of government is to set in place the right framework to make this happen, and to close any loopholes where they exist.
	These changes represent the first stage in a programme of work which has begun to deliver in practice on the commitments I made on the 19 January. These measures together will bring about fundamental reform and will significantly strengthen the current system. However, while government have a responsibility to set the right framework, employers, parents and the police have a responsibility to use the powers and checks we are putting in place to make sure the system works to protect children.
	Safeguarding is everyone's business and we must all play our part. By working together we can ensure children are better protected.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The location and the setting for the UK Supreme Court should be a reflection of its importance and its place at the apex of the justice system, and the heart of the constitution.
	The Supreme Court Implementation Programme has taken a significant step towards delivering a world-class organisation in a location that properly meets the expectations of the public, the Law Lords, the legal profession and court users.
	The refurbishment plans for Middlesex Guildhall, the preferred location for the Supreme Court, have been completed and will be formally presented to me on 7 March for statutory approval. The designs have been developed in close consultation with the Law Lords, in accordance with Section 148 of the Constitutional Reform Act, and meet the statement of requirement that was agreed with Lord Bingham of Cornhill in August 2003. The general opinion of the Law Lords is that the existing plans, very imaginatively, provide reasonable accommodation for the Supreme Court within the confines of the Middlesex Guildhall, although there are some members who remain unconvinced that the building can, even re-designed as proposed, provide a suitable modern setting for the Supreme Court of the UK. We are working within the financial parameters set out in my statement of 14 December 2004.
	Middlesex Guildhall is a grade II* listed building that requires consent from Westminster City Council before the designs can be finalised. Our aim is to submit an application for planning approval at the end of April.
	We plan to open the Supreme Court for business in October 2009. This is later than originally envisaged but reflects the time likely to be needed to deliver the current plans and enables us to open the court at the beginning of the legal year.